Informal Fallacies of Relevance*: Arguments that are really distractions from the main point.

Ad Fontem Arguments Latin for “against the source”. These arguments distract by focusing the
attention on an opponent rather than the issue.

Ad Hominem Abusive Ad Hominem arguments that insult the Bob Banks is the typical
opponent. Washington bureaucrat, intent on
sucking the taxpayers dry &
funneling money to special
interests.
Ad Hominem Ad Hominem arguments that attempt to I can’t take an argument against
Circumstantial discredit an opponent because of his/her financial regulation seriously
when it comes from a banker.
situation or circumstances (affiliations, etc.).
Tu Quoque Latin for “you, too”. Arguments that claim A: Republicans do the bidding of
that since the opponent is flawed (often big business, which finances their
campaigns.
displaying the very defect he is arguing Fallacious response: Well,
against), his argument can’t be true. democrats are in the pockets of
the teachers’ unions. (& vice
versa)
Genetic Fallacy Arguments that dismiss opposing arguments The only reason you’re a Muslim
as false by focusing attention on impersonal is that you were born in Saudi
Arabia. If you’d been born in
sources. The most common form is to Europe you’d be a Christian or a
dismiss a belief as false due to the origin of a Freethinker, or maybe a Buddhist
belief, which, logically, has nothing to do if born in parts of Asia. So it
with the truth or falsity of the belief. seems your religious beliefs are
pretty unlikely to be true. Wrong:
reasons for holding beliefs have
no logical bearing on their
truth/falsity.

Appeals to Emotion Arguments that distract by appealing unduly to the emotions.

Appeal to Fear Ad Baculum. Arguments that distract by If we put Republicans back in

making the audience afraid of the power, there will be guns
everywhere and poor children will
consequences of disagreeing with the starve.
speaker.
Appeal to Pity Ad Misericordiam. Arguments that distract by A vote for me is a vote for the
making the audience feel sorry for the children. Don’t you want to help
the children?
speaker or someone on behalf of whom he’s
arguing.
Appeal to the Masses Ad Populum. Arguments that distract by See the way that both Democrats
(Mob Appeal) appealing to the audience’s desire to be part and Republicans constantly
appeal to the middle class, or the
of the crowd. way politicians try to style
themselves as political outsiders.
Appeal to Elitism Arguments that distract by appealing to the Look at ads for luxury brands such
(Snob Appeal) audience’s desire to feel a part of a special, as Mercedes-Benz, or Louis
Vuitton for examples of this sort
elite group of insiders. of appeal.
Appeal to Illegitimate Ad Verecundiam. Arguments that distract by a.As Matt Damon has clearly
Authority citing a figure who is not a legitimate stated – John McCain …
 *Tables of informal fallacies adapted from The
Art of Argument.

authority on the topic under discussion. b.According to an anonymous

source…
Chronological A term coined by C.S. Lewis. Arguments that a.Those beliefs are positively
Snobbery distract by appealing to the audience’s desire medieval – how can you even
entertain them?
to feel a part either of an old tradition or of b.I never trust the “latest
the latest trend. research”.
Red Herrings Arguments that distract by changing the topic.
So-called due to the fact that when one is being tailed by bloodhounds,
dragging this pungent fish across one’s trail and tossing it off into the
underbrush will cause the dogs to follow the fish and lose the original scent.

Appeal to Ignorance Arguments that distract by trying to force the a.You haven’t given any evidence
opponent to disprove the speaker’s claim, for this 9/11 conspiracy theory.
b.But can you prove the theory
rather than offering evidence for the claim. wrong? Aha – got you there!
Irrelevant Goals or Arguments that distract by measuring the Medicaid is a failure – there are
Functions opponent’s plan or policy’s efficacy in doing still uninsured people out there.
(Medicaid wasn’t designed to
things it wasn’t intended to do. achieve universal coverage).
Irrelevant Thesis Arguments that distract by making a case Q: Are you too old to serve a 2nd
(and quite possibly a good case) for term?
Reagan’s answer: “I am not going
something that is not relevant to the topic to exploit…my opponent's youth
under discussion. and inexperience.
Straw Man Fallacy The attempt to disprove an opponent’s a.The Democrats are pushing their
position or belief by presenting them in an socialist agenda again.
b. The Republicans continue to
unfair and inaccurate manner. wage their war on education.

Fallacies of Presumption: Arguments that make unwise assumptions about either the data or the
nature of reasonable argument.

Fallacies of Presupposition Arguments that contain hidden assumptions that make them
unreasonable.

Begging the Question Petitio Principii. A fallacy in which the Lying is wrong because it is what
premise of an argument presupposes the bad people do.
(In other words, lying is bad
truth of its conclusion; in other words, the because lying is bad – the
argument takes for granted what it is argument is circular.)
supposed to prove. Circular reasoning.

Bifurcation or False An argument that frames the debate such All Americans are either
Dilemma that only two options are possible, when Democrats or Republicans.
False: Some are communists.
other possibilities may exist.
Moderation An argument that assumes that the correct The Nazis say we must
answer or course is always constituted by a exterminate the Jews. You say we
must protect them and let them
middle ground between extremes. live. There must be a compromise
somewhere in the middle that
would be best.
Is-Ought Fallacy An argument which assumes that something Of course loading students down
ought to be a certain way simply because it with tons of homework is the
right thing to do. After all, it’s
 currently is that way. what we’ve always done and
continue to do.
Division An argument which assumes that individual Well, Bob was an AP student, so
parts of a collective will be like the whole in he must be smart.
(Maybe he was in over his head).
important ways.
Composition An argument which assumes that a collective If we can just get Jeremy Lin to
whole will be like the individual parts of the play for our team, we’ll be
collective in important ways. championship material.

Fallacies of induction Arguments that misuse empirical data or don’t follow proper
methods of inductive reasoning.

Sweeping Arguments that apply a generalization to You don’t need a car. You live in
Generalization cases that are legitimate exceptions to it. NYC, and New Yorkers don’t need
cars – you can just take the
subway or a cab.
(True for many New Yorkers, but
there are exceptions, perhaps for
this person).
Hasty Generalization Arguments that make a generalization on the Tom is a male.
basis of too few examples. Tom is jerk.
Therefore, all males are jerks.
(Sample size is too small).
False Analogy An argument based on an analogy in which "'Next,' I said, in a carefully controlled
tone, 'we will discuss False Analogy.
the things being compared aren’t similar Here is an example: Students should
enough to be analogous in the appropriate be allowed to look at their textbooks
during examinations. After all,
way. Be careful, however. All analogous surgeons have X-rays to guide them
things are different in some way, so when during an operation, lawyers have
analyzing an analogy, one should focus on briefs to guide them during a trial,
carpenters have blueprints to guide
the aspects important to the discussion, and them …Why, then, shouldn’t students
not on details that are dissimilar, but be allowed to look at their textbooks
irrelevant. A perfectly analogous thing during an [exam]?'
"'There now,' she said enthusiastically,
would be the thing itself. 'is the most marvy idea I’ve heard in
years.'
"'Polly,' I said testily, 'the argument is
all wrong. Doctors, lawyers, and
carpenters aren’t taking a test to see
how much they have learned, but
students are. The situations are
altogether different, and you can’t
make an analogy between them.'
“'I still think it’s a good idea,' said
Polly.
"'Nuts,' I muttered." (Shulman)
Post Hoc Ergo Propter “After this, therefore because of this”. "'Next comes Post Hoc. Listen to this:
Let’s not take Bill on our picnic. Every
Hoc or Post Hoc Correlation doesn’t imply causation. Causal time we take him out with us, it rains.'
Generalizations relationships should be demonstrated, not "'I know somebody just like that,' she
exclaimed. 'A girl back home--Eula
assumed. Becker, her name is. It never fails.
Every single time we take her on a
picnic--.'
"'Polly,' I said sharply, 'it’s a fallacy.
Eula Becker doesn’t cause the rain.
She has no connection with the rain.
You are guilty of Post Hoc if you blame
Eula Becker.'
 "'I’ll never do it again,' she promised
contritely." (Shulman)
Fake Precision Arguments that use numbers in an overly “Dear Friend: In the past 5,000 years
men have fought 14,523 wars. One
precise manner, given the subject matter. out of four persons living during this
time have been war casualties. A
nuclear war would add 1,245,000,000
men, women, and children to this
tragic list.” (Kahane)
(The limits of historical record and our
predictive abilities do not allow such
precision).

Fallacies of Clarity Arguments that fail because they contain words, phrases, or syntax that
distort or cloud their meaning.

Equivocation Arguments that fail because a key term is Hot dogs are better than nothing
ambiguous and the argument uses multiple Nothing is better than steak.
Therefore, hot dogs are better
meanings of the word in order to mislead, or than steak (Johnstone ,quoted in
due to the confused nature of the argument. Drury).
(The middle term means different
things in each premise).
Distinction without a Arguments depending on a distinction Bob isn’t a bad student. He just
Difference between two things that is only linguistic. refuses to study.